Taking A Leave
by Aquila-A
Summary: Huang meets up with Wade Heston before leaving Liberty City for San Fierro. Contains spoilers for Chinatown Wars.


A/N: This story is related to my other story, 'Oriental Bloom', but it can also be read separately. I actually planned for this one-shot to be included in 'Oriental Bloom', but I thought having too many flashbacks would ruin the storyline and confuse readers, so here it is. This story happens before the events of 'Oriental Bloom'. Contains spoilers for Chinatown Wars. 

The streets of Cerveza Heights, Dukes, are teeming with triad members, as usual. The same goes to the streets of Chinatown, Algonquin. The LCPD officials noted that there aren't any significant changes with the Triads.

It was as if their previous leader, Hsin Jaoming, was never caught.

For Huang Lee, things are always the same. Drug deals after drug deals. Occasionally it was hijacking and robbing- these two activities would make a daily appearance in Weazel News. Who would've thought that the son of a dead Hong Kong gangster would make it big in an American city?

Huang is the youngest to head the Liberty City Triads at the age of twenty-five.

Being in charge of three Triad families is tiring.

Lucky for Huang, everything's running smoothly- at least for now. He had received no trouble from the Jaoming family and the Ming family. They carry out his orders without any hesitations or objections, much to his surprise.

But that didn't stop rumors circulating throughout the city around about him.

He'd received unwanted attention from the boys in blue- the LCPD.

Now that he thought of it, everyone that he knew was pretty much dead anyway.

Ling. Rudy. Chan and Zhou. Then there was Xin…

Huang didn't mind killing the crossdresser, the gimp and the snake; although they weren't exactly the FIB rats that he was looking for. They were all- in their own way- fucking _annoying_.

And of course, there was his _loving_, backstabbing, porn-addicted, pet-torturing Uncle Kenny.

But he felt otherwise for the Shan siblings. Both Ling and Xin were younger than him at the time of their separate deaths- it was as if their deaths were fated to take place in the same alleyway. Either that or the place is 'cursed' as some people would say; Huang personally didn't believe in curses and things alike.

He felt that death came upon the siblings too early… life can be short, he remembered his father's words.

Not counting his family and associates back in Hong Kong, and Hsin Jaoming, who is currently in prison; the only ones that he knew alive living in Liberty City were Lester and Heston.

Huang's guessing that Lester's probably having a vacation somewhere in the quieter part of the city, now that one of his biggest client/acquaintance is in prison.

Heston, on the other hand, is enjoying his life as a promoted LCPD detective since his bust on Hsin.

Speaking of which, Huang decides to pay the cop-turned-junkie a visit.

- North Holland, Algonquin-

"You stupid dumbfuck! I'll kill you!"

"Ay, woman, gimme that fucking coke!"

Expletives and sounds of suggestive moanings were heard as Huang entered the run-down apartment in search for Heston. Walls, windows and doors were either filled with graffiti or broken down. Huang even saw what seemed to be bulletholes and bloodstains on some parts of the building.

He stepped into the vandalized elevator and received curious glances from the inhabitants of the apartment. They questioned among themselves what an Asian man in his mid-twenties was doing there.

If only they knew he's the leader of the Liberty City Triads.

Huang reached his destination- the third floor- and made sure that it was the right door before knocking. Almost instantly, the door was opened and he was greeted with the sight of Heston pointing a gun at him; to which Huang reacted by pulling out his own gun.

Heston immediately put his gun away when he realized that the person knocking on his door was Huang.

"Hey, if it isn't Liberty City's favorite snot!" he said with a laugh.

"Ha-ha," Huang laughed lamely, "I see you still haven't lost your sense of humor, _Detective Heston_."

The said person took a quick glance at the packet of pills that Huang was carrying.

Ecstasy.

"That ain't exactly my cup of coffee, Huang… but being the conventional person I am, I'll take it."

Huang handed the packet to the LCPD detective who snatched it hastily.

"Get in," Heston gestured, "these days whenever I open my door it's always a gun shoved in my face or death threats. Like I haven't had enough of that shit," he said grimly.

Huang walked into Heston's apartment with the said owner closing the door behind him cautiously.

"That's because you're living in a crappy place with junkies and drunkards roaming around. Some place you're living in, Heston. I can't believe you're still living in this shithole," Huang blurted out, "What? Too cheap to buy a new place?"

"I'm still on coke, buddy," Heston replied carelessly, eyes and hands still on the packet of ecstasy, "what were you expecting? Me, going cold turkey just to buy myself a new place? I don't think so," he laughed.

Huang sat down on the nearest couch, taking care not to step on a box of doughnuts lying on the floor.

"What is it?" Heston asked.

"I'm going to take a leave."

Heston immediately stopped fingering the packet of ecstasy.

"You're serious?"

"This city sucks."

A long pause ensued after the statement.

"Hong Kong?" Heston asked. Much to his surprise and confusion, Huang replied, "No."

"China?"

"No."

"Taiwan?"

"No."

"Okay," Heston said, irritated, "enough with the bullshit, rich kid. Where the fuck are you going?"

A smirk was plastered on Huang's face.

"San Fierro."

"Don't give me that smirk. You shitting me, Huang? You're leaving town for good?"

"Hey, relax, supercop! I need a break. I ain't exactly the right babysitter for the whole Liberty City Triads. I just need a break for a week or two."

"Hey, don't take on the leave for too long. My boys are starting to miss you already, see? No one for them to chase around no more if you're gone," Heston smirked.

In a twisted way, Huang was always a bait- a bait used by Heston to distract the LCPD away from his 'personal business', whatever it is; Huang didn't want to know. He figured it has something to do with either the Internal Affairs again or the nosy LCPD superiors. Heston's drug addiction wasn't helping him in that situation. He'd piss on at the idea of going to rehab.

Well, Heston didn't name himself a hypocrite for nothing.

Huang didn't mind doing some extra work for Heston. After all, he owed the man a lot of things.

"Look, consider ourselves ex-partners, eh? Good buddies or something like that. I gained myself a rep after my big bust on Hsin and you got to avenge your father's death. IAD's nosing around shit as usual and they're still keeping their eye on me, even after my promotion."

"…Your point?" the young Triad boss said impatiently.

"I don't need you to look after my back all the time. You did favors for me, I did favors for you."

"Alright," Huang said in disbelief, "why the hell do you have to twist a simple sentence up? Smartass prick."

"… Told you, I should be a movie star."

"Yeah, you should be one- one that fucks his life up with coke and heroin and got himself dumped by his wife. That's quality Vinewood shit right there," Huang said sarcastically.

"You know," Heston started, "my wife, she-"

"Enough bullshit about your wife already, for fuck's sake!" Huang said, feeling both irritated and amazed at the same time; amazed that Heston was still able to pull stories about his currently non-existent marital life.

"I'm guilty, pal. I'm gonna end up in a waste of coke and heroin while the other bastards in this city make it big," Heston said sadly, "anyway, that's it? You're here to tell me that you're going to leave town? What am I now, your personal advisor?"

"Oh yeah, I haven't heard of a thing called an 'email'," Huang added with sarcasm, "that's why I wasted my time, money and gas travelling all the way from Cerveza Heights just to tell you this."

"You and your sarcasm, Huang," the LCPD detective sighed.

"FIB's been hacking into my email and tapping into my phone line, that's why," Huang revealed, "I found out four days ago when I noticed one of those stupid dickheads following me around in a black van."

"Oh, so the heat's getting to you now, huh? Why the hell did you came here? If those bastards link me to you, I'm down the gutter for good!" Heston ranted, which gained him another sarcastic response from the Chinese man.

"Thanks for the sympathy, Heston, you're a real help."

"Anytime, Huang," Heston replied with equal sarcasm.

Another moment of silence.

"Fuck this thing," Huang said, "I'm leaving for San Fierro next morning in my own private jet."

"Hey, look. I'm sorry, kid," Heston said (Huang noticed that he was having difficulties saying the 'sorry' part), "let me make it up to you. How about I look after your buddies while you're away?"

"You're offering to _babysit_ my gang?" Huang said with skepticism, "Wow, that's very nice of you, but I doubt they'll want a cop babysitting them."

"I said I'll be _looking afte_r them," the gritted his teeth, "as in _keeping an eye_ on them, _observing_ them. Damn, I'm a fucking cop-junkie, not an English professor, I know my vocabulary ain't that good."

"That's good enough."

"Me looking after your buddies or my vocabulary?"

"The first one."

"Oh."

Heston breathed in and said, "I guess it's a goodbye and 'till-we-meet-again' shit?"

"Yeah, that shit exactly," Huang stood up and bid the detective farewell.

Huang had heard of the Liberty City Triads' counterpart before- the San Fierro Triads. They were larger in terms of numbers than their east coast counterpart and quite powerful too- they actually drove out nearly all of the Mafia families and gangs residing there.

He could actually multi-task while he's on his 'leave' in San Fierro.

There's just a lot of possibilities in the land of free. 

A/N: Yeah, I think the ending is… nyeh. Remember the mission replay description for the last storyline mission (_Salt in the Wound_)? Oh yeah… Heston and his (ex) wife, haha. I hate how almost every character ended up dead. Huang and Heston are fun characters to write ;)


End file.
